


Pulled My Trigger, Now He's Dead

by Ghost0



Series: The Doom Patrol [3]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:15:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26417047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghost0/pseuds/Ghost0
Summary: The stand off between the agents and the freaks does not go as planned! After finally getting on the same page with each other, Cliff, Casey, and Bella find themselves being asked a big favor.
Series: The Doom Patrol [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1920121
Kudos: 1





	Pulled My Trigger, Now He's Dead

While they were in the middle of shaking hands, the man in the speedo turned to his right to see something down the hall. He accidentally pulled Cliff out into the hallway. Hearing someone saying something, it was then followed by gunshots. Cliff looked at two new people in suits firing bullets at them. But the bullets…just stopped. Mere inches away from Cliff and the speedo man, the bullets froze in mid-air for several seconds before falling to the ground.

“What the…did you do that?” He turned to the guy who had come out of his coma minutes ago.

“The power of muscle mystery.” He responded. Cliff tilted his head, the only way to visibly show his confusion. Elaborating, the man said “All I have to do is flex a muscle and I can do anything. It all depends on which muscle I use.”

“Right. Well, whatever it is, it was pretty fucking cool.” Cliff told him. The two girls had gotten off the bed and poked their heads out of the room and into the hallway.

“Stay right there!” One of the two guys in suits said. They still had their guns up and pointed at the four. “If you make any sudden movements, we will shoot!”

“Yea, we kind of got that part. It’s one of those things that’s more implied.” Cliff told them. “So, who are you and why are you here? Actually, how the shit did you even get here in the first place?”

“We had to use an incantation. Ugh, I shiver just saying that out loud.” The same guy said. 

“Hey…that’s my comb!” Casey pointed to the comb that the two had dropped near their feet. “You broke into my apartment?”  
“Seriously dude, not cool.” Cliff said. “I know it’s hard trying to meet someone, but if you have to break into someone’s home and grab some of their hair, I think that’s a sign that she- “Another bullet was fired, but the speedo man again stopped it and it dropped. “Right, stop talking. Got it loud and clear.”

Then suddenly, they were outside. Cliff and the other three were standing all next to each other, backs facing the inn. The two in suits were in the middle of the street. The one that has been silent looked around him, lowering his gun a moment. The talkative one kept his eyes and gun trained on the four. “Stay focused Derek! Don’t let them try and confuse you with their freaky shit!” The silent man named Derek brought his focus back.

“Uh, did you just do this?” Cliff slightly turned to the almost naked man to his right.

“I thought fresh air might clear our heads.” He responded.

“Just making sure.” Cliff turned his head back to address the two guys. “All right thing one and thing two, there is no need to do whatever it is your doing.”

“Shut up! We were hoping to bring this…thing back with us!” The talkative suit used one arm to spread his arm to point to his surrounding before placing it back on the gun. “But now that we have found HIM, we can have two prizes to bring back!” He pointed his gun at the speedo man.

“You know these guys?” Bella turned and leaned her back to look around Cliff.

“Not personally. But I’m pretty sure I know who they work for.” He responded back. Nodding her head, she turned back around. 

“Can you believe this Derek?” The still unknown suit said to his partner. “We get to bring in a freak AND a monster! Not only will we save the Bureau, but maybe get more pay!”

“I think I’ve had it up to here with your fucking tongue.” Cliff yelled out. “Ok, so I don’t really know this guy.” Cliff waved his hand to the full bearded one to his right. “So I can’t really say whether or not he is a freak. I would like to think he isn’t, going mainly off the fact that he stopped bullets aimed at us. But Danny the Street is no monster! Danny is Danny, you son of a bitch! No one can take that away from him or tell him otherwise!”

“Yea, well, this thing won’t be known as Danny much longer.” The unnamed suit responded back. But the other, Derek, lowered his arms to his side and even dropped his gun. The other could see out of the corner of his eye what was happening. “Derek, what the fuck are you doing?”

“I can’t live a lie anymore.” Derek’s partner seemed completely shocked by the fact that his partner spoke. Turning to face him, he even lowered his arms and weapon halfway so that it was now aiming at the ground. Derek turned his entire body around to face his partner. “Jack, I never mentioned this, but I joined the Bureau because I thought it would show me how to be what my parents wanted me to be. I tried, really hard. But I still have these feelings inside, always there, eating away at me.”

“Uh, what the fuck is going on right now?” Cliff whispered to no one in particular.

“Quiet!” Bella tapped Cliff’s arm. “He is about to do one of the most important things in his life right now.” She looked on with a strange mixture of eagerness and pride.

“Jack, I have loved you ever since we first became partners. I just didn’t want to admit it to myself.” The suit named Jack hasn’t changed his face of shock and surprise yet. “But I kept pushing it down, thinking like my parents it was just a weird phase that will fade over time. But it’s like this robot man said. This street…Danny is it?” He looked over to Cliff, who just very slowly nodded. “Yea, this Danny the Street is exactly what it is.” He turned back around and gave a small smile to his partner. “And I’m just…me. What we are doing should be stopped. Maybe the Bureau should be shut down. I want a life that I can truly be proud of. And I think you want the same. Even if you don’t share the same feelings for me that I have for you, we can still try and find something that’s worth doing. Not carrying out a mission in the name of some warped sense of duty. Come on Jack, what do you say?”

There was a very long moment of silence. Casey was confused, Bella actually was trying to fight back a tear, Cliff…well, his face couldn’t really show what he was feeling. But you probably have a good guess, so let’s just go with that. And the speedo man was simply waiting to see what would happen next. Jack still hasn’t changed his face of shock and surprise. But now that it seemed like Derek was done talking, he turned his head to the left and looked down at the ground. It seemed like he was just trying to let everything that was spoken sink it, taking a minute to process the weight of the words that he heard. Slowly he looked back up at his partner, meeting his eyes. His arms were a lot faster though. One finger pulling the trigger, a bullet penetrated his head, brains flew out, and he fell backwards onto the ground.

“HOLY SHIT!” Cliff yelled out. Bella covered her mouth in shock and horror. Casey took a step back as the sound of the gun surprised her. The man with the power of muscle mystery kept his eyes trained on the remaining suit. Jack turned his weapon to the four once again.

“You did this! You made him one of you!” He yelled out.

“I didn’t do shit, asshole!” Cliff snapped back. “YOU are the one who just fucking killed your partner because he was gay!”

“He wasn’t gay until he came here!”

“That’s not how it works, you ignorant cunt!” Bella angrily shouted.  
“Enough of this! You two are dead!” He waved his gun at the two girls. Pointing it at Cliff, he said “You…well, I don’t know what to do with you. Maybe I can reach my hand inside and do some damage.”

“I don’t know pal. That sounds pretty gay. I mean, that’s cool, but it’s not something I’m personally- “

“SHUT UP! You are all going to know what happens when you fuck with someone from the Bureau of- “ 

Then a cello fell from the sky and hit him in the head. Jack fell down to the ground, letting go of his weapon. All four of them just stared in shock, not quite sure what to do next. Cliff turned to face the speedo man. “Let me guess. Muscle mystery?”

“He should be unconscious.” He nodded his head.

“Well, can’t say I understand how your thing works. But I’m sure glad that it does.” Cliff paused as he took a moment to listen to what he just said. “Huh. I guess there are some things that just naturally sound sexual.” 

The two girls were the first to start approaching the knocked out agent. A couple of people from the store across the street slowly peeked, having seen the whole thing happen. Casey picked her head up and saw them. “Can you get us some rope and duct tape? Anything that can tie him so he can’t do anything else?” One of them slowly nodded, patting her friend next to her to go back inside and search for something. Cliff and the speedo man walked forward to look down. Casey checked his pulse. “You were right. Still alive.”

“So…what now?” The man asked.

“I say we kill him.” Bella picked up the gun and started to aim at the agent. Everyone else turned around, yelling ‘NO!’ and waving their arms to obstruct her view. 

“Look, as someone who has accidentally, and purposefully, killed some people, I don’t really think it would be satisfying to kill him. No matter how much of a douche he is.”

“Plus it’s wrong!” Casey looked at Cliff.

“Right! That too!” Cliff pointed at Casey in agreement.

“Well, I just the one person, and it wasn’t exactly pretty, but I found it fairly satisfying.” Bella responded.

They all just stared at her. Then, Cliff looked down at the ground, waving his arms out in the air. “THAT’S IT! TIME OUT!” All eyes were now on Cliff as he took charge. “We need to sit down and talk about EVERYTHING right now!”

“Uh, actually, if it isn’t too much trouble, I wouldn’t mind getting a haircut.” The speedo man awkwardly held one finger up in the air. “I’m not a fan of having long hair or such a full beard.”

“FINE! Go talk to Phil, he can help you with that!” Before he could ask, Cliff pointed to a barbershop a couple of stores down. “But after that, we are having a meeting so that we can figure who is who, what your story is, and everything else that we need to be on the same page about! The club in 30 minutes!” Cliff turned and started walking away. 

Casey thought for a moment in confusion before calling out to him. “Do you mean the cabaret?”

“WHATEVER!” Cliff yelled back. Casey eyebrows shot up as she heard just how loud he could really get. The speedo man walked across the street, looking for Phil to help him out. The woman from across the inn walked up to them and handed them rope and duct tape. Bella took it and reluctantly put the gun down and pushed it way and toward Casey. Getting down on the ground, she helped the paramedic tie up the government agent against his will.

******

Cliff has gotten four chairs an arranged them in a circle on the stage. He was sitting on the one facing the entrance, seeing the others walk in. They made their way to the stage, climbing up and grabbing one of the chairs. “Greta, we’re all here. I guess I should say I’m sorry. Kind of blew up back there.”

“Just a bit.” Bella smirked.

“Yea. Well, I guess a whole bunch of new and strange things were happening all at once. And I don’t do well when people are aiming guns at me. Not that they could really do much damage to me anymore I guess. Old habits, ya know?” All three of them remained silent. Turning to the right, he saw the speedo man. “Look at you! You clean up nice!”

“Thank you!” The man smiled. He had short hair and a clean shaven face now. He rubbed and scratched his neck.

“Anyway!” Cliff turned back to address all of them. “I think it’s a good idea to just introduce ourselves to one another, let the others know a bit about ourselves, and maybe figure out what to do with the shit bag tied up. I’ll start us off.” The robot man stood straight up. “I’m Cliff Steele, former race car driver. Got in an accident, and the only way to save me was for a shady scientist fellow to put my brain into what is an essentially a walking talking jar. Not this body, a previous one. He was forming…I guess you could call it a superhero group. Looking back on it, I probably wouldn’t call it that. Anyway we got into a mission over a year ago that killed everyone except me. Don’t ask for details because I still can’t remember. And for the last few weeks Danny has been kind enough to let me just stay around.”

Nodding, he sat back down. A few moments passed where everyone was staring at the ground, unsure and hesitant. But then the woman with the short red hair stood up. “I’m Casey. Last name Brinke. I was a comic book character that was created by Danny, who was then brought into the real world by Danny.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but I just want to clarify…is Danny the street?” Bella asked. “Like…the actual street?”

“Oh yea.” Cliff answered. “Danny the Street is sentient, magic, and gender fluid. But Casey refers to Danny as dad.”

“Of course.” Bella straightened up. “Sorry Casey. Please.” Bella nodded, letting Casey know she was done with her question.

“Don’t worry about it. A lot of people are confused by it.” Casey said. “But yea, after Dad brought me into the real world, got set up as a paramedic. All though I still have a couple of powers from back when I was a space based superhero.”

“What powers?” Cliff asked.

“Limited telekinesis, energy beams.” Casey responded. “But I just wanted to give a normal life a shot. I liked being a paramedic, that part I liked. But if I’m being honest…I do kind of miss doing adventures and shit. I still remember what I did in comic books, and I enjoyed doing all that stuff. So…yea.” Casey nodded and sat down.

The next round of sitting in silence didn’t last nearly as long. Shrugging her shoulders, Bella stood. It looked like she had gotten out of whatever exterminator-like outfit she had on earlier and was now just in jeans and a regular oversized shirt.

“Bella Reyes. The girl who was in Gotham until she found herself literally falling through the sky and into Danny.”

“I apologize for doing that.” The speedo man leaned forward a bit. “I guess I unknowingly flexed a muscle while I was in my coma.”

“Actually, that’s my fault.” Casey spoke up. “I did give you a shot of adrenaline in an attempt to wake you up.”

“Regardless of whose fault it is, don’t worry about it.” Bella said. “Honestly, it’s probably for the best that I’m not there anymore. Considering I had broken out of jail and was hiding.”

“Yea, about that.” Cliff looked up at the Latina woman. “You mentioned something about killing someone. If it isn’t too personal, I would like to know some more details if at all possible.”

“Sure.” Bella rubbed her hands together, still a little uncomfortable. “There was this guy who killed my dad, Pedro Reyes. The original Ratcatcher.” She paused for a moment, to wait for a response. But she just got confused looks. “The Ratcatcher…from Gotham City? He was framed for murder by several politicians and so he sought revenge by killing everyone involved?”

“I feel bad saying this as someone who works in medicine…” Casey spoke up. “But there are A LOT of murders in Gotham. I can’t really keep up with them. But that sounds awful, I’m sorry that happened to him. Both the set-up and his murder I mean.”

“Thank you.” Bella nodded to Casey. “Anyway, I found the guy who did it and I asked the rats to attack him.”

“Question!” Cliff raised his hand. “Did you…can you talk to rats?” 

“Yes. My dad used this gas to help train rats that he also used to manipulate other people. I guess getting exposed to it over a long period of time is how, when I was born, I had that ability.” Cliff lowered his hand. “So yea, killed him, got arrested and convicted. And people started referring to me as the new Ratcatcher ever since. I mean I always wanted to, but more of like an actual hero of sorts. But when everyone sees you as the daughter of a villain – a low level villain, but one nonetheless – I could feel them starting to push me into that role.” Bella sat back down, crossing her arms. Casey reached out and rubbed her shoulder. Smiling back and whispered thank you, Casey pulled her hand back afterwards. With that, the man in the speedo stood up for his turn, holding his hands in front of him as he addressed the group.

“Let me start by saying it is great to meet all of you.” He smiled and nodded towards the other three. “Also, I would like to thank Danny for hosting me and helping me out in whatever way possible.” A light was aimed at the curtain behind Cliff, spelling out “Don’t mention it luv!” The man bowed his head towards the message and turned back around. “Now, my name is Flex Mentallo. I have the power of muscle mystery and I am known as…The Hero of the Beach!”

Flex raised his arms up and flexed, making the actual words appear in orange in the air above him. Casey and Bella’s eyes widened like never before, while Cliff just remained still and silent for a moment. But he just had to turn and ask. “Are you seeing floating words too or am I finally malfunctioning?” Bella met his eyes and mouthed “Super weird” to him. “Well, at least I’m not seeing things that aren’t there.” 

Casey cleared her throat. “Uh, Flex? I do have a question about this muscle mystery you have referred to?” Flex brought his arms back down, the words in the air disappearing. Holding them in front of his body again, he met Casey’s gaze. “What exactly does that mean? How did you get it?   
“Very good question.” Flex said. “Well, there was an ad in an old magazine that I found abandoned on a beach. It said that with the power of muscle mystery, anything I can imagine can be made possible. So I sent a check to the address listed, got a package and instruction manual to help me get started. Long story short, I became this.” Flex patted his chest. “As for what it can do…move objects, cause explosions, create things out of thin air…to be honest, pretty much anything as long as I know which muscle to use.”

“That…makes no sense.” Cliff said. “What kind of magazine just has something like that? And why aren’t there more people like you walking about stopping fucking bullets by showing off their pecs?”

“I don’t use pecs to stop bullets. But I understand what you’re asking. Like Casey, I am a comic book character brought into the real world.”

“Danny made you too?” Casey curiously asked.

“No. A psychic from this world named Grant Way. He made his own comic book as a young kid. But he didn’t actually bring me out into the world until…how long have I been in a coma Danny?” The light landed on the curtain again, saying “Just a little over a month.” The light then disappeared. “Thank you. Grant Way brought me into the real world just a little over a month ago.”

“But why now if he could do that?” Bella asked, crossing her arms as she looked up at him.

“Well, you see…Grant was being hunted by a federal agency known as the Bureau of Normalcy. From what he told me, they seek out people they label as freaks and a threat to what they perceive as the American lifestyle and eliminate them. He brought me out as a way to help protect him. But now, I have to ask you…” Flex made eye contact with all three of them. “Please help me destroy the Bureau of Normalcy.”


End file.
